Free cybersecurity for GP clinics protecting patient data

Cloudflare and the Critical Infrastructure – Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (CI-ISAC Australia) have joined forces to provide free cybersecurity protection to general practitioner (GP) clinics across Australia.

Their goal is to safeguard the sensitive patient information held by these small healthcare providers from cyber threats like data breaches, ransomware attacks, phishing scams and insider threats.

Under a new initiative called Project Secure Health, GP clinics with 50 or fewer staff members can get Cloudflare’s internet security tools and CI-ISAC’s cyber threat intelligence at no cost.

Cloudflare Head of ANZ Steve Bray explained: “GP clinics are the first points of call to care for our health, yet are often left unprotected with limited resources available to safeguard the significant amounts of patient data they hold.

“With this program, Cloudflare is ensuring that Zero Trust capabilities are accessible to smaller organisations that are most relied upon by their communities.”

Cloudflare’s tools will block clinic staff from accessing malicious websites spreading ransomware or phishing lures. They’ll also enable clinics to easily control who can access internal applications, minimising the risk of unauthorised users gaining access.

Meanwhile, CI-ISAC will provide ongoing membership for free and threat intelligence tailored specifically for the healthcare sector. This allows clinics to get ahead of emerging cyber risks targeting medical providers.

CI-ISAC Chief Executive Officer David Sandell notes that while GP clinics handle very sensitive data, they rarely have enough resources for effective cybersecurity. He says their group approach can “empower GPs to improve their cyber resilience and protect patient data.”

GP clinics interested in joining Project Secure Health can contact CI-ISAC at info@ci-isac.org.au.

Ritchelle Drilon

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Ritchelle is a Content Producer for Healthcare Channel, Australia’s premier resource of information for healthcare.

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